claudia6913

It's taken three years of aging an imp of this to finally get it to the point where the dragon's blood doesn't scream SOAP upon touching my skin. And it's finally, finally just as the lab describes, and everything I wanted it to be. This was the scent I sought out when I first started BPAL and it was my first heart-break. Glad to say now it's just purely wonderful. It's soft, smoky, warm and slightly sweet. The longer it sits, the warmer and cozier it gets. The leather note reminds me of De Sade (for those lucky enough to have tried it).

Just pulled this out of the aging drawer. Purchased 7/2011. And my what a little aging has done. Warm, smooth, soft, sleek. Everything you think of when you think of "snake". I adore it and hope to be able to find more sometime as one bottle will not be enough!

In the bottle this smells like straight up Vick's Vapo-Rub. I nearly didn't skin test it until I kept reading reviews of red musk and wood. (yes please!!) I definitely get a minty undertone in this blend, but the red musk is front an foremost. Maybe a hint of a pine-type wood, but thankfully it's not amping so far. It's flipping for me between a beautiful musky/minty blend and a medicinal minty blend.

This scent is definitely reminiscent of the "lace" line of scents. It has that soft vanilla tone to it - but in addition, it's fuzzy and brown. Definitely tonka fuzz. Not fizzy though, which tonka can do on me sometimes. There's a wood in there too, but I can't tell which one - it's not a pine though, as every pine note BPAL has amps to the nth degree on me, and this is not amping. It's blended very well. Morphs a bit as it sits. It moves away from the "lace" association and moves more into the fuzzy/woody/hunter type zone.

Sweet, musky, slightly herbal and just delicious. Of course, red musk is front and center, the golden skin musk and golden amber seem to warm this up, while the orchid is a nice floral note wafting around. I'm not good at picking out tobacco and hemlock yet, but I'm sure they're in there, maybe giving it that herbal feel. All in all this is warm, roll around fuzzy, and just an all around wonderful scent! I can only imagine this will get better with age. So now I have to purchase a back-up bottle to set away. =) 3/13 update: A little over a year later and it's still pretty wonderful. I'm still having to get over the initial medicinal (hemlock I think) phase. But that doesn't last long any more. It's gotten deeper, but it still has that warm fuzzy feel to it.

This is everything autumn could be and so much more! I've been hunting for that perfect autumn/apple scent and this soooo delivers! I can see on some this might go straight to potpourri-ville, especially wet, but as this dries it mellows out. The spices aren't nearly as strong once it dries, the apple comes out more. The citrus gives it a bright feeling, the butterscotch and brown sugar sweeten it nicely, and the fermentation and the liquor do not make this into an alcoholic blend. It's quite simply fall in a bottle.

This has a "glittering" quality to it - probably the shivering white musk. I'm not honestly sure if I'm smelling cocoa in here as I don't really know what cocoa smells like unless it's actual chocolate, and I'm not getting edible chocolate out of this. The dry leaves are there, not as crispy dry as I'd like, perhaps it's the amber incense. I think that's what is giving it a "powder" feel to it. Overall it's a very nice blend, very evocative of a cool, crisp fall evening. I really want to age this and see how it does next fall.

This is a golden delicious apple, warmed in the sun, sweetened with a crispiness. It's just wonderful. The carnation adds a bit of spice to give it an extra kick. The amber warms it up. The flowers are background - there but not overpowering. The frankincense and the tea give it a bit of depth. It's a wonderful blend and I'm in love!

Warm and sweet waters. It's just ... divine. Soo much better than I thought it would be. It's not a metallic gold, but a feeling of gold. The water isn't overpowering (though it is a little when wet) and the "gold" warms it up a lot.

At first this was a very in-your-face green scent, with no sweetness to cut it from the honey. As it dries, however, it turns into a lovely warm scent. I do get a cigar-like feel about it - fresh, unadulterated tobacco - which I associate with really expensive, good cigars, the kind I don't mind smelling burn. The honey comes out and it's slightly sweet, warm, a little green, and a little smokey. I like it but I don't think it's anything I would actually wear. Nope, I have to wash it off. I'm not a stranger to tobacco, but this is just too much for me. It's strong and has a decent throw to it.

Metal and I seem to not be getting along. I thought we were friends, or at least good acquaintances as it was nice to me in CC: Male, but I guess I was wrong because it keeps shouting at me. Wet on my skin this is just pure metal. Though not nearly as strong as Fighter was on me, but it seems to be in the same vein of metals. Finally, as it's drying, the red musk starts to come out as does the frankincense and amber. I'm not sure what scent or impression I should be getting from Antediluvian, so I can't tell if it's in there or not for me. There's a smoky quality to this as well, not sure if it's the "glowing" part of the red musk, or if it's supposed to be frankincense smoke. Either way, the metal is backing the hell off and I am SO thankful. It was about 5 minutes of screaming metal - can't wait to see if it's worth it. Already I'm liking where it's heading. Dry, this still has a bit too much metal for my tastes. I've been fighting the urge to wash it off for about 20 minutes now. I wish my skin chemistry would allow everything to blend together instead of having the metal punch out front and overwhelm all the other wonderful scents.

Wet this is straight up honey a-la the O variety. Actually, if I didn't know better, I would've thought I was wearing O. Hmm, I wonder if I amp honey then ... something to think about. Personally, I'm not a fan of honey on my skin. I like it well enough, but after a while I have this urge to get it off my skin. Not because it smells, bad, or that it's too much, I just personally don't like smelling like honey. However, I did give this a chance to dry completely and wear for about 45 min and now it's manageable and even ... nice. It's sweet, a little resinous, but nothing overpowering. I do get a complete honey vibe from it - there's no mistaking it for anything else. But I don't get anything "hemlock" with it. Don't think I'll ever buy a bottle of it. But I might put a little on from my imp every now and then.

I knew going in that I am balsam to ungodly degrees, but I was hoping it would play nice in this blend. I was sadly mistaken. Wet this is pure balsam with a hint of cedar and sandalwood. Under that is leather. And that is the sum total of what I can smell. It is a very dry smelling blend as well as it dries. Every now and then I think I can smell some of the red musk and maybe a hint of florals, but the longer I sniff it the more the wood and balsam drowns it out. =( I should just give up on balsam all together I think. =( I'm sure this is a beautiful blend, as there's definitely a potential for it, but not on my skin apparently.

This is almost exclusively cedar on me. I seem to amp it quite a bit. As it dries down, I get more of a woody-resin scent, but with no floral and very little vanilla musk. Possibly the myrrh is adding to the woody scent. It's a little overwhelming at first, but it's a nice warm woody scent when it's calmed down. Edit to add: A month or so later this comes into it's own. The woods are still very predominant, but now the amber and vanilla and carnation are getting to play at the party. It's still a warm woody scent, but now it's rounded out with all the notes. It's much deeper and a little more complex after sitting for a bit.

The notes all sounded like complete win for me ... but fresh all I get is that sweet berry incense from the head shops, and I couldn't stand that stuff. (No offense Ted!) I will stash this away and hope aging (or perhaps better chemistry on my part) will help bring this into its own. It takes nearly 2 hours of wear for the sickly sweet scent of the berries to die down enough for me to get the sweet musk and a bit of the amber (which is what I'd hoped for from the get go).

This smells like an almost fruity but mostly floral blend to me. Soft, sweet, and not nearly as dark or sultry as I thought it would be. Thank goodness the rose isn't going straight baby powder on me and I'm actually able to enjoy a scent with rose in it for once. I kind of wish the vanilla bean and clove were more pronounced, but it seems to be all florals and red musk. I really like it though, which is surprising as I don't really like a lot of the labs more floral blends. I can't wait to see how this one ages.

This is a wonderfully soft floral, with a watery undertone. The herbs give it a nice deep base for all this to flow over. I enjoy this blend so much as I'm not typically a floral type person - but this one was just too lovely not to get a bottle.

This is a heady scent, swirling shadows and smoke. The tonka is more earthy with a touch of sweetness, the chardonnay brings a hint of brightness, and the rum/tabacco with a hint of leather gives it a "bad" or "dirty" vibe. Very sexy though. The very first time I tested it, I thought for sure it had cloves in it, but I wonder if that's an effect of all the notes, or maybe just how the black tobacco smells. Because even now, while the clove impression isn't as strong, it's still there.

At first this almost came off as a light spicy floral, and I just knew that couldn't be right. That initial wet phase didn't last too long, which, I wouldn't have minded it staying around. LOL Now I'm getting the red musk and the spices. They are smooth, not sharp, but not sweet either. I really like this scent, and can see wearing it in the cooler months. Maybe even layered with a nice floral - will have to find one that works well with this.

At first this smells exactly like cinnamon schnops - After Shock (because it has a slightly sweet edge to it). It takes a while to wear off that sharp intense cinnamon edge. Finally the leather starts to come through. Oddly enough there's no cinnamon listed in the notes. Must be the cardamom then. Odd. After comeplete dry down and about an hour into the wear, it's a very warm soft leather. I'm not sure it's worth waiting an hour through screaming spice to get to the warm leather drydown. Because honestly, it gives me a bit of a headache.

This was a SURPRISE! love for me. I expected something much drier (a la Mme. Moriarty) due to the red musk, patchouli, and pomegranate - but that's not what I get with this blend. It's sweet, and lacy, and sexy as all get out. The fruit make is a much more robust blend, the sugar-spun vanilla cream cotton give it that sweetness, and the sandalwood, tobacco, red musk, dried pomegranate, and incense give it a base to waft up from. I can totally see this as a red lace, soft, alluring, and deviously sweet. I was afraid the patchouli and frankincense would overtake this blend, but I can barely pick out their notes. I love this blend and want to get my greedy hands on another bottle!

… Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter. This is all crunchy leaves and the sweet smoke from burning wood, just a hint of cool wind in the forest winding through the trees. There is a touch of fur, soft, warm, fuzzy, and perhaps just a tad dangerous. So glad I swapped for this bottle!

In the bottle: Sweet, fresh, and green - slightly watery. Wet on skin: Very green and fresh. Not really smelling any cherry, but the bamboo is there, the incense, the musk, and the lilac. Very soft, Drydown: This is very nice, not too strong, not too light. It's gentle like a breeze across a lake. Dry: Soft musk and watery greens with a hint of floral. Overall: This is a very nice scent, and would be good in the spring/summer/fall.

In the bottle: STEEL! LEATHER! Fresh, new, never worn and not broken in. I don't know whether to squee in anticipation or cringe. Wet on skin: Sharp, sharp steel. Like you just licked it. I can taste it on my tongue. Usually that happens to me with the blood note too, tasting the copper, wonder if my skin isn't making the two fight. Drydown: The leather is still not broken in. =( I adore the labs well worn leather notes a la CC: Female, but this is not that. It's new and barely been worked. Freshly oiled leather, freshly forged steel ... I expected something a little more worn. Something a little more battle-aged. Dry: There's just the barest hint of musk. Still all steel and leather and way too strong. Overall: I feel like I should've gone with Ranger for my leather fix. =( Maybe aging will do it some good? Edit to add: The freshness of it is making my tongue tingle and I swear I didn't lick my wrist!

In the bottle: There is something sharp and slightly off about this scent in the bottle. At first sniff I'm not loving it. Wet on skin: That sharp smell dies off immediately and I'm left with a slightly alcoholic piece of cloth. Drydown: There's almost a pine-like scent to it. Wood moss maybe? Definitely getting the coconut bark. Dry: A bit of sweetness finally comes out (though honestly I could be smelling the Eat Me I put on this morning), and the bark/pine tempers out and smooths a little. It's now turned into a soft feather light scent. Overall: I need to age this before I can say yes or no. Right now it's not my cuppa, but who knows in 6mo-1yr?